Balkans ’26

Fall of 2025 saw the inklings of a tour into southeastern Europe take shape. We were drawn to the region through positive feedback from several trusted travel partners, our passion for learning about the very tumultuous European history of the 20th Century and an overarching desire to continue our exploration of new but meaningful destinations. The usual planning regime was undertaken, beginning with flights, isolating specific city stops, booking accommodations, and utilizing Google Maps and reviews to unearth the myriad of attractions (be it sightseeing / museum / tour / meals). To extend, we actively researched regional history and the geopolitical circumstance in an effort to ground understandings and support a knowledgeable visit, so YouTube was in full rotation.

It was down this research rabbit hole that we really got hooked on this excursion. We have, in many ways, been a generation of privilege to have existed in a moment in time of “relative” peace, with several exceptions. Cold War involvements such as Vietnam occurred in the late 60’s / early 70’s to which we were far too young to actually remember. The Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) raged in Afghanistan and wrought the deaths of millions of Afghanis, while millions more fled as refugees. Although there were ongoing images of war from the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, and many conflicts with Israel, the news to us as young Canadians seemed to present war with a remote lens. The “Conflict” in the Falkland Islands in 1982 that mired the UK and Argentina in a battle for dominance in the South Atlantic brought much more media scrutiny and thus the thought of war was not as abstract. As parents, we have lived with Canada’s decision to break its peace and engage, at the behest of NATO and the US allies, in a prolonged armed conflict (2001-2021) in Afghanistan to which some 159 Canadian soldiers died in combat missions. However, it was Canada’s peacekeeping role in the Bosnian War (1992–1995 armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina) that ravaged the Balkans in our post undergrad years, which drew us to this region.

Home based planning did not present many hurdles and prep was fairly smooth. Zooming out, there are some key specifics we’ve placed focus. Of note, there are multiple flights and border crossings during this run, in countries both included and outside the Schengen area. This “open-jawed” loop has us doing our best to mitigate delays that may occur in airports / customs by having all required info loaded to Apps and a keenly developed itinerary. We expect, somewhere through our journey, that we may be doing some waiting in an airport or customs line-up as countries (UK’s ETA and Europe’s ETIAS) move to passport linked travel authorization systems designed to track visitation. Our fingers are crossed 🤞that we are ready!

Balkans ’26 – Day One begins our journey. We are watching weather, packing bags and (this time ’round) hoping our journey is a safe and uneventful trek as we watch concerning unrest in multiple parts of the globe (Ukraine / West Asia and North Africa). An informative Canadian Gov’t online tool, found at Travel Outside Canada, lets you can examine advisories globally. Special precautions designated “Exercise a high degree of caution” (or Yellow Risk level) for two of our particular visit locations / time frame included “elevated terrorism threat” in the UK and ongoing “risk of unmarked landmines and unexploded ordnance” in rural areas of Bosnia & Herzegovina.

As per the past 10 years, we’ll be blogging daily as we tumble through our trip itinerary. We include things that catch our senses, be it while sightseeing, visiting attraction, new savoury delights, transportation details or just a simple thought on something we experience. We’ll also post any trips and tricks that made (or would’ve made) the day more efficient / less costly and sample in photos that correspond. At the bottom of each page is a place where you’re welcome to comment. Don’t be shy… we love contact from home and questions as we travel. Wheels up 🛫!!!

… Balkans ’26 – Day One